


Dark Hunters: The Gathering

by Dgray3994



Series: Dark Hunters Series [3]
Category: Supernatural, Supernatural Novels - Various
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Coffee, Family, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hunters, Swearing, The Gathering, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 05:33:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dgray3994/pseuds/Dgray3994
Summary: *Written as a holiday gift for all hunters out there* When Castiel popped into the garage, I knew something was up, the angel never appeared without some sort of reason, but what he told me couldn't be let go. It was time to gather the family, time to put an end to something hunting US and there was only one way I knew how to accomplish that, with Dark Hunters.





	Dark Hunters: The Gathering

Dark Hunters: The Gathering

**Saturday Morning: Ware, Massachusetts**

It was freezing outside, like just over twenty degrees, if that but the heat was cranking in Jones’ little shed, the one that kept the GTO safe from the vicious chill of winter’s snow and ice. It was probably ten in the morning on a Saturday, the kids were off to their father’s and I was trying my best not to get my panties in a bunch over this one spark plug. 

When was the last time Jones gave this girl a tune-up anyway?

The sounds of Shinedown played loudly over the equally obnoxious sound of the electric heater that so when I had dived under the hood of this beast, the world outside faded away, that was until the socket stuck and the ratchet wouldn’t budge, which all but irritated me and there was  _ no way _ I was walking into the Ware Gun Shop to ask a man for help.

December was cold in the northeast. Sam was off doing his own thing, Dean was somewhere, I assume with Danni, all hunting monsters and apparently the states up here put down so much salt on the roads that both ghosts and demons headed south for the winter. I hadn’t had a case in weeks, so to keep myself otherwise occupied, I decided on the weekend it would be fun to play with the car.

I placed my foot against the bumper, braced the other behind me just in case, and grabbed ahold of the breaker bar with both hands. With two deep breaths, I clenched my teeth and yanked. 

NOTHING!

My shoulders slumped and I rolled my eyes, blowing the strains of hair out of my line of sight as I took another breath and grabbed ahold of it. This damn spark plug was coming out and then I was  _ dumping _ a gallon of anti-seize on all of them so I didn’t go through  _ this _ again.

I strained as I pulled, my foot on the bumper, my eyes closed, waiting for it to happen.

“Let go, you motherfu…!” I screamed.

“Good morning, Ali,” a deep, gravelly voice spoke up beside my left ear and I screamed again.

I dropped the ratchet, grabbed the spectrum and turned in one spinning motion to come face to face, or more like chest with an angel, my blade stopping just short of piercing his ribs. Catching my heart, I chanced to look up into his eyes, the way the blue in them seemed to glow and the small smirk that played on his lips as I finished my exclamation, under my breath.

His brows creased as he questioned: “What is a motherfu…?” 

“Cas!” I snapped before he could finish the word and I placed the knife down gently on the hood. “It’s just an expression,” I sighed and leaned back, grabbing ahold of his shirt to draw him near. I hadn’t seen him in weeks so him being even two feet away was too much. So with the stoic creature standing between my legs, looking down at me, I dropped my hands to the purple paint of the car and leaned back. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to check on you,” he said softly, which was a total lie, something he still hadn’t gotten the hang of yet. “You’ve been alone for months, Ali, you can’t keep up this distance.”

“Sam made his choice, apparently the crazy shift in things in September was something he enjoyed, it’s not like he’s been gone the whole time and Dean and Danni are hunting. Cas, I’m not alone.” I reached out, not meeting his eyes again and picked the small tan fur off his blue shirt. “Have you been to my house?”

“Actually, yes, before I stopped here,” he shrugged, not  willing to try and fail at lying again. “Alucard still seems to appreciate when I pick her up, yet I find that her gift of coating me in her fur less than appealing.”

“She’s a cat, Cas,” I grinned and pushed at his chest, standing to move past him now that I had caught my breath, and my heart and made my way over to the stereo. Turning down the music, I grabbed a rag, and wiped the grease from my hands as I watched him lean over the engine, staring at the tools that were there. “Did Dean ever let you help with the Impala?”

“What?” He questioned, as if he had just zoned out, but he seemed to right himself pretty quickly before he turned to me and his eyes left the car. “No, ah, he didn’t trust me to touch anything under the hood, which I told him was unnecessary since I was very good at reading instruction manuals.”

“Well,” I cleared my throat, trying not to laugh at his explanation of why the elder Winchester had kept him away and made my way over where I moved the tools, the light and the extra parts out from under the hood and slowly closed it. “I think that’s all I’m going to try and do for today, she’s a bit on the sassy side, won’t let the damn spark plug loose and I’m not in the mood to argue.”

“Please, don’t stop on my account.” He offered up and I realized that maybe he was just in the mood to watch. 

“What have you been doing with the boys and Danni out on the road?” I whispered as I stepped up, taking over his personal space as I grabbed ahold of his tee-shirt and pressed against him. Yep, Cas and I had pretty much killed the whole issue when we lived together over the summer and it hadn’t returned, but being hunter deprived myself, he knew I could use the invasion. However there was a look in his eyes as he leaned his head down, just enough to catch my eyes, and his fingers came up to caress my neck, almost in a Dean-like fashion. “Okay, Feathers, spill!”

“I’m…”

“Nope, don’t even try to deny it,” I smiled and reached up, running my hands up behind his neck to grasp a handful of hair. With it firmly between my fingers, I yanked him down so that our noses almost touched. “Cas,” I whispered, and his eyes slowly closed, yep this one was touch deprived, “tell me what’s going on.”

“I wasn’t going to bring it up to you,” he started, but I cut him off.

“Your first mistake, Cas, you tell me everything.”

“But,” he continue, trying to ignore my comment, “there’s something going on, something I’ve been following for the last week.”

“A week?” I slowly let my fingers ease up, so instead of gripping him, I was just running my hand through his soft hair. “You’ve been tracking this a week and just coming to me now?”

“Well, after the first incidence, there wasn’t any real pattern, but…” again he paused, “there’s been three more deaths since then.”

“Deaths?” I was so lost, and it was just a Cas thing to do, make you question every word that came out of his mouth. “What kind of deaths?”

“Hunters.” He whispered. My hands slipped from him completely as I thought of the boys and Danni out fighting the good fight, and I felt myself swallow, but it was hard to get past the lump in my throat. “They’re fine, please don’t worry about Dean and Sam.”

“What about Danni?” His lips parted as if he were trying to come up with something to say but it was written right there in his eyes. “Cas, what kind of hunters are dying?”

“Female ones,” he finally admitted.

“Okay, there are a ton of us, so why would Danni be in danger?” I think I’m just about to have coronary, this boy could come out with something soon before I freak, but Cas stayed almost deathly silent. “Castiel, tell me… now!”

“Every death… every hunter, has been someone you worked with.” And my heart dropped.

It took me a moment to catch my thoughts, to let that knowledge sink in and I shook my head. “I’ve worked with at least two dozen women in the last four months, Cas, who would be going after them and why?”

“I think it would be ideal to warn those that you do know until we figure out just who is targeting them.” He stepped closer, wrapped his arms around me and for a moment, all I could do was hold on, close my eyes and take in the feeling of his wings as they wrapped around me.

**Saturday: Lebanon, Kansas.**

I stood against the table in the library, feet crossed at the ankles, arms crossed around my chest. I had already explored the bunker since Cas had been gone for about forty minutes now and had yet to pop back up with Danni. I knew where Sam’s room was, knew that it was his by the scent of his pillows, had located Dean’s room and smiled at the random porn magazines that he had stashed under what he thought was secret places, plus the weapons on the wall had given it away. Found the weapons room, the electrical, the storage room complete with the hidden dungeon, the kitchen and the second entrance to the garage.

Yeah, I had way too much time on my hands.

Now, I was just waiting. With a deep breath, my head bent down to my chest as my brain went a mile a minute, I decided that sitting here waiting was just too much.  Turning towards the library, I smiled up at that the board and silently thanked Sam that he had actually refilled the printer ink. Every face on there was someone I knew, someone I trusted with my life and now they were in danger because of me. 

“Ut-hm,” a voice behind me made me stand straight and I turned to see Danni there with her arms crossed, and Cas by her side. “I leave you alone for what, a month and you start getting hunters killed? Good God, girl, what the hell am I going to do with you?”

“How about we go with Dean’s whole lock me up situation, seems that he suggests it a lot but never really put it to the test.” I shrugged, “I mean, it might work one of these times.”

I walked slowly down to her and let her wrap me in her arms as I closed my eyes, feeling like the protected and not a protector for the first time in a while. I took a deep breath, she smelled like Dean and the Impala, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“How’s the pain in the ass?” I questioned.

“Waiting for you to call,” was her only reply as she pushed me back, “heard from Sam?”

“Every now and again, he’s working a case in minnesota right now. Banshee, I think he said.” I was just guessing at it now. “I’m sure he’ll call as soon as he knows more.”

“So, what kind of trouble do we got here?” Danni took my hand and the three of us, Cas following close behind, moved up towards the library. She looked over the board, and I saw some of the curious looks that she gave a few of the hunters before she turned to the photographs on the table. Bloody scenes that made her lips curl up. “God, what the hell could do that?”

“Not sure, but it’s one hell of a mess.” I shook my head, “they were good women, good hunters.”

“They all are, so what do you say we get these ones here and keep our sisters safe?” Danni patted me on the arm as she turned and stared at the board again. “Okay, how do we get this rolling.”

I smiled at her, and leaned on the table beside her like I had been doing before.

“These ladies are fierce, not ones to come easy, especially with Cas.” I spoke up.

“You’re sending the angel?” She questioned and gave him a weird smile then a wink. “They’ll be armed to the teeth with angel blades, why would you chance it?”

“Because he’s the only way we’re going to get them here safe. Each one has been emailed to expect him when he arrives, but he’s not going alone. I’m sending letters.” I smiled and watched the confusion cross her.

“Letters?” She laughed, “you just said you sent emails, why send letters?”

“Introductions, each letter has a code word on it, each hunter has a code word from Jones, ones that only Jones uses,” I turned to the table and showed her the ones that were laid out. “They’re also warded, no one but the one it’s addressed to can read it.”

“Okay, these girls are spread out all over the country and you barely have weekends to work, so how do you know all of them?” Danni was full of questions, which I would honestly be amazed if she wasn’t but I couldn’t help but grin at these because she was right, a few were in Canada, across the states, some were in California and it would take more than my weekend job to drive there and lend a hand.

I glanced up at Cas, who was leaning on the post, watched him pitch a brow before nodding slightly and I whispered. “Angel Air.”

“God, last time I went with Cas…” Danni started but I put my hand up and closed my eyes.

“Dude, what you and Dean do in the bedroom and what he can or cannot accomplish, not my biz.” I shivered but the thought of that Winchester made me long for the other. Danni couldn’t help but grin. “Okay, so like I was saying, Cas is going to arrive with a letter for each hunter and the opportunity to turn this down, but I don’t see most of them saying no. This is our fight and we’re going to have to take it on together to finish it.”

“Agreed.” Danni whispered and glanced down at the ones spread out on the table.

**Saturday - Ohio**

Cas stood by quietly and watched as the two women finished off the nest of vampires they were hunting and headed back to the car before he made his presence known. The first one on him was Loki, she was quick, small, almost like Ali, but he just held his spot as the tip of the blade pressed against his neck before he held out the letter for the second woman, M, to read. 

With a quick look over the correspondence, M took a deep breath, pulled her white hair back in a ponytail and gave Loki just a quick glance. 

Cas was pretty relieved when the sharp point was taken away from his neck and he sent a quick text out to Ali as the women packed the needed bags.

**Lebanon, Kansas**

I grinned at the text.  _ Maybe a bit more warning would be necessary next time, I don’t appreciate the possibility of an angel blade behind thrust up into my skull.  ~ Cas _

“Alright, Feathers has the first two!”  I yelled as I moved out of the kitchen with two cups in my hand and was greeted by M and Loki standing by the war room table. I smiled up at them, at the way they looked, tired from a fight and handed them each a cup. “I’ll, ah, make another pot.”

**Saturday - Menifee, California**

Cas ducked and weaved, avoiding not only the tips of the blades that were being swung at him, but also the bullets that nearly clipped his ear before he was able to pull the letter out and hold it up for the woman before him.

The bullets stopped and the one in front of him turned to look at the second one who was just now coming down from her perch where she had been firing off the rounds. Handing the letter to the new arrival, Cas rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone.

**Lebanon, Kansas**

_ Bullets, this time, Ali. I’m being shot at. Are you sure your email system is working correctly. ~ Cas _

I licked my lips, two new fresh cups in hand and stepped out of the kitchen. 

I was about to raise it to my mouth but hollored before I did, “Cas has Lotus and Shifu, he should be…”

I stopped and glanced at the three people standing in the room again, then up at Danni, who was just coming down from the library. I smiled at Shifu, handed her a cup, then turned to Lotus and did the same before I cleared my throat.

“Yeah,” I nodded and made my way back towards the kitchen.

**Saturday - Tennessee**

Cas took a deep breath, looked down at the woman who was cleaning her weapons as he stood in the doorway and rolled his eyes before she held out a hand and he stepped forward, delivering the letter. 

Taking a swig of the whiskey beside her, she never let her eyes leave the angel, scrutinizing  every detail of his body and Cas rolled his eyes.

**Lebanon, Kansas**

_ Is it a hunter’s thing to be sexually frustrated? ~ Cas _

I would have nearly spit my coffee out, if I could get a chance to drink a cup since this time, I made it only to the door before I heard his wings flutter and the exasperated sound of his sigh. Kat was in the war room with the others and I had a wind blown angel standing before me with some really messed up hair.

“Forgot to warn you about that one, didn’t I?” I smiled and Cas only frowned.

**Saturday - Oregon**

Cas blocked, as he drew his blade, but this time he wasn’t being attacked by the hunter, he was helping her with the wendigo that had him backed into a corner. He was playing decoy while she fired up the homemade flamethrower, basically a lighter and a can of hairspray but it did the job, setting the monster on fire as it screamed into the night. 

Cas wrapped his arms around the woman, took them out of the damp cave system and deposited them right beside her Jeep, where she took a step back and pulled her gun, another thing that Cas came to expect from them. With a deep breath, one that he let out slowly, he pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it over to her.

**Lebanon, Kansas**

_ I forgot how gross actual hunting could be, do you think it possible to get the smell of burnt flesh out of a canvas jacket? ~ Cas _

“Our angel took on a wendigo in Oregon,” I laughed as I made my way up the steps, still not having my own cup of coffee, but I should have known the drill by now and just handed the cup to Rose, who was now standing in the room looking over the amount of people that surrounded her, before I turned to Cas, “and yes, I’m pretty sure we can come up with something.”

Ever seen an angel roll his eyes so far back he gets whiplash. it’s hysterical.

**Saturday - Atlanta, Georgia**

Cas looked to his left as the small throwing knife pinged and stuck into the wall. This couple he knew, and hadn’t felt very afraid when he stepped into their small three room trailer on the outskirts of the city, but his lips parted as he reached over and took the knife from the wall, handing it back to its owner.

“Thanks Cas.” Bee winked as she met his eyes, exactly the same height had its advantages.

“Got the email,” Mystrye smiled as she set the bag on the ground at his feet. “When are we leaving?”

**Lebanon, Kansas**

_ I would suspect that the rest of these should be fairly simple, depending on who is on the list next. ~ Cas _

Nope, wasn’t going to do it, I was just going to sit back here in the kitchen with my foot up on the table and listen to the pot brew, I mean I could hear all the voices in the other room, the chatter going on, the happy hellos, but I wanted my coffee and I figured if I just sit here it might…

“ _ ALI!”  _  Danni’s voice rang through the hall. “Two more cups, and bring some extra sugar!”

Yep, I’m starting to feel a little under-caffeinated. 

**Saturday - Las Vegas, Nevada**

Cas turned around at the feeling. He should have known better by now, he should have possibly gotten the hint by this round of hunters, but he had trusted Ali and her knowledge of the internet. He closed his eyes, not wanting to know what kind of instrument was at the end of the point that was poking into his back but when he saw the fiery red hair that was done up in a 50’s era updo, a small smile crossed his face and the sound of the safety clicked on behind him.

“Castiel?” The strong voice of the woman who held him at knifepoint and apparently gunpoint behind him questioned. 

“Lilac, quick, toss me the lighter!” Was all he heard Rylee say before the fire erupted before him, and he raised an arm to block the blinding light.

**Lebanon, Kansas**

_ It hadn’t occurred to me how many spirits haunted the Vegas strip. Ali… I’m not at all positive that this hunt is a good idea. How do you hunt in heels? ~ Cas _

I smiled as I read the text, looking up at Danni as she moved into the room and grabbed a few more cups from the cabinet. It was a good thing that the boys had stocked up on them once Danni had moved in but I shook my head as the two of us heard the cheers of the other girls.

I huffed as Danni patted me on the arm and grinned. It was fine for her, I’m sure, since she kept taking all of the black gold out of the room. I let my lip quiver as I made my way back towards the cabinet. I was pretty positive Sam kept another container of coffee in here somewhere.

**Saturday - Calgary, Alberta, Canada**

It was blustery cold outside, as Cas looked around, the wind blowing snow into his face. He hadn’t prepared for this, not that he felt the cold but there was something to be said about sitting here waiting for someone to answer the door.

The music blared, not a band that he had heard before, not that he had heard much besides what Dean had played or Ali for that matter. Nick had some interesting selections but music was never big on his list of things to get into. There was that one time that Lucifer was a rockstar, but that wasn’t his cup of tea either.

Suddenly, the door in front of his flung open and a tall woman, with glasses and blonde hair smiled at him. He knew her. “Carol?”

“ Militiam caeli iam ingressum,” a voice behind her yelled, and Carol reached out to pull Cas inside. Cas smiled at the woman behind her, a shorter one with curly black hair and glasses.

**Lebanon, Kansas**

There was no text this time, there was only a cheer of the voices in the other room as I poured two more cups, but it was the flutter of angel wings that had me standing straight and the way that Cas snatched the cup from my hands, drinking down the piping hot liquid without a second blink.

“Cas, that’s…” I started but he had already put down the first cup and made it threw the second before taking a breath, “hot. What the hell happened up there?”

“Canada is cold,” he stated pointedly and I tried to hold back a laugh, which came out almost like a snort. “I had to wait ten minutes outside in the below freezing temperatures for Carol and En to open the door.”

“I’ll put on another pot, you can warm up.” I grinned as I kissed his cheek.

“Are you positive those emails are working?” he questioned again, which only made me shake my head.

**Saturday - Newark, New Jersey**

Birdy was just about to let the machete fly when she happened to take a moment to look at the man standing before her. With a hmmph, she lowered it by her side and tilted her head just a bit as Arrow came walking around the corner. 

Cas raised a brow, for once, no one was firing at him, or swinging at him, or, Heaven knows, trying to kiss him but these two he knew and he grinned as he handed them the letter.

Arrow took it first and read it quickly, her brow furrowing. “What did our little sis get into now?”

“Seems like we should take an angel ride and find out,” Birdy smiled, winking at Cas, but then she paused. “Wait, is Danni going to be there?”

**Lebanon, Kansas**

_ We have a situation. ~ Cas _

I took a breath, placed the freshly made cup of coffee down on the table and looked up at the ceiling before placing my fingers on the keyboard.

_ You realize we have a bunker full of hunters, what could possibly go wrong? ~ A. _

_ Birdy. ~ Cas _

I was at a loss, seriously, what could one hunter have to do with anything, but then Danni walked into the room, smiled at me as she grabbed the fresh pot of Joe and winked.

_ Crap! ~ A _

**Saturday - Lebanon, Kansas**

I set two cups down on the table, watched Birdy and Danni eye each other for awhile and decided that, yeah, this was going to be an all out brawl, but I had the best seat in the house. The office chair that I had claimed and now was sitting back in, feet up on the table with that final cup of coffee in my hand. 

Cas moved to stand behind me, changed his mind and moved to stand beside me and I reached out to brush his fingers with mine. He quickly tightened one finger around mine as he kept his eyes on the growing tension, but what happened next had me completely baffled. Danni came around the table, held her arms open and hugged the taller hunter, greeting her like old friends.

Huh, I thought for sure the whole Dean Winchester thing was going to be an issue but looking up at Cas, whose face was also full of confusion, I guess I wasn’t alone.

“We straightened that out months ago,” Birdy winked as she looked at both of our disbelieving faces.

“Yeah, no need to let a man come between us,” Danni laughed, “Birdy and Arrow helped me with a ghoul problem in Oklahoma about two months ago.”

“Okay, ghoul problems,” I nodded, smiling, and took a sip of the coffee, “right.”

“What are we here for, Ali?” Shifu questioned as we all finally found a spot to sit and I was able to finish a cup.

“Well, as I said in the email, we believe any female hunter who has worked with me in the past might be in danger. We lost four this week, they were great hunters, great women, and I wasn’t going to take the chance of losing anyone else so that’s where we stand right now, the problem is,” I stood from the chair and grabbed the autopsy reports that we were able to get our hands on and passed them around, “doesn’t sound like any monster we’ve dealt with before, at least not Danni or I, hell, we even had the boys look into is and they got nothing.”

“Two of the world’s best hunters have  _ nothing _ ?” Rose snickered. What could I do, I just shrugged.  

“Yeah, pretty much,” I sat on the edge of the table and looked around at all of them, “I figured with as many minds as we got here, we could figure something out and quick. Not sure what the hell is going on, but I don’t think we have much time to figure it out.”

“Why do you say that?” Bee spoke up.

“Part of the autopsy found enochian writing carved into the ribs,” Cas added.

“And?” M grew curious.

“It was a countdown,” he whispered, “to tomorrow.”

“Oh, great,” Lilac whispered, “so what the end of the world is tomorrow, or is that just when the rent check is due?”

“Not the end of the world,” Danni shrugged, “apparently just our small part in it.”

“Enochian,” Rylee whispered, “wouldn’t it make that an angel issue?”

“That wasn’t written by an angel,” Cas interjected.

“It was just put there so one could read it,” I finished, “or so at least I could.”

“Okay, so someone, or something that knows you can read enochian is killing off people you know to tell you about a countdown that ends tomorrow but you don’t know who or what?” Loki spoke up.

“That just about sums it up.” I nodded.

“Sounds like a piece of cake.” Kat said in a nonchalant voice and we all looked over at her as she sat scribbling with a pencil in one of Sam’s discarded notebooks. After a pause, when it was completely silent, she finally looked up. “What? You just put down every clue you had, minus the bodies, which I’m sure have more clues in the autopsies, now all you have to do is put it together.”

“Like an algorithm,” Carol whispered, and En nodded, which brought the taller woman’s eyes right to hers. “You can do that, right?”

“Set up a basic set of calculations and narrow down the clues to point us in the direction of what kind of monster does what kind of thing?” En questioned, then shrugged, “yeah, like she said, piece of cake.”

“I can help,” Myst smiled as she leaned forward on the table. “I went to school for computer programming before… well, before hunting, I’m pretty sure together we could write something that will have us kicking this thing’s ass before it even knows what day it is.”

“Saturday,” Cas added, which had us all turn to look at him. He wasn’t paying attention, he was standing there with his arms crossed and his head down, the only part he caught was the day. “I’m… I’m sorry, I thought you were asking…”

“It’s okay, Cas.” Danni whispered and walked over hugging his arm. I glanced at the woman around me and smiled the best I could. 

“The laptops we have access to are up in the library for you three, and if everyone else wants I can show you where the rooms are and the showers.” I spoke softly, but my concern was suddenly on Cas. I heard the muffled agreement of those around me, noticed everyone stand and collect their stuff but I moved up to Danni and Cas. “You okay, Cas?”

“Physically, I’m fine, but mentally,” he seemed to pause, which only got a smile from me because I could almost make a joke out of every reply, until his eyes locked on mine. “Enochian cannot be a good sign, Ali.”

“I know, Cas,” I reached up and brushed his cheek, “I know. Let me get them settled and then, in an hour, I’ll meet you guys in Sam’s room.”

**Saturday: Sam’s Room**

I held his shirt in my hand, gripped it tight as I tried to keep calm but nothing seemed to be helping the fact that my heart was racing. The sound of the door cracking open had me trying to gain my composure as I ran a hand over my face, clearing the tears with my fingers.  I cleared my throat and looked up as both Danni and Cas entered the room, closing it behind them.

“Everyone is settled in, though I don’t think they’re at all comfortable with any of this.” Danni spoke up, leaning against Sam’s dresser. I placed his shirt down on the bed and sighed as Cas stood just out of my line of sight. 

“I don’t think anyone is okay with this, and if none of them sleep, well that’s par for the course really, we never sleep on hunts.” I shrugged, drawing in a deep breath, but I couldn’t help the smile that rose on my lips. “The boys would have a fit if they saw all these hunters in their home.”

“Yeah, but the boys aren’t here and this isn’t about them, as much as I would love Dean to be here.” Danni grumbled and crossed her arms. I knew it was hard for her to be away from him, hell it had been hard for me to be away from him but after the events of September, it was necessary.  “Would you just call him already.”

“Ain’t happening,” I sighed and glanced up at her, finally standing from the bed. I left the shirt there, and headed for the door.

“Wait,” Danni sighed, rubbing her forehead. I stopped, took a breath and turned towards her. “How well did you know them, the ones who died?”

“Well enough,” I didn’t know what to tell her, I had hunted with them once or twice? They saved my ass? Maybe it was a vengeful spirit? I had no idea. “Let’s just find out what we’re up against and get it gone.”

“If that wasn’t a Dean thing to say, I’m not sure what it was.” Danni scoffed and I nodded. He would always be with me, but seeing him would just push things too far, and right now, Sam and I weren’t even seeing each other enough in my opinion. “So, what next?”

“Well, I’m going to go over the autopsy reports, I already scanned them in to Sam, so I have to check my email, but I think you might need some sleep.” I winked and opened the door before glancing at Cas, who hadn’t said a word, and walked out.

**Saturday Night - late**

For the fourteenth time, I flipped the pages of the report as I stood at the war room table. There was nothing new, nothing that hadn’t stuck out at me the first time I had read through them and the man on the bluetooth wasn’t any more impressed.

_ “I don’t get it, it just looks like they were shredded.”  _  Sam sighed, as his voice made me tingle all over, but even as I shivered with no one watching, I placed my hands on the table and glanced over the photos before me.  _ “Ali, what is really going on there?” _

“I’m in a house full of hunters, most of them uncomfortably settled somewhere in the bunker and trying to figure out this puzzle,” I shrugged, “not much else going on.”

_ “Did you figure out the Enochian?”  _ he paused before letting me answer,  _ “of course you did, what am I saying.?” _

“There has gotta be something we missed.” I took a deep breath and looked up as Cas came down the hallway. “There is no way it’s a shifter that happened to eat an angel and a werewolf at the same time, who retained some angel mojo to pop around the world.”

“Why not?” Cas questioned and I stood up, looking at him in disbelief.

“Because that’s just the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, Cas.” I snarked and listened to Sam snicker on the phone. “I mean I get that it would work, but really, no.”

_ “Listen, Al, I’m going to keep looking this over, but I have to grab four before I pass out. Call me, okay, maybe by then my brain will have a chance to recoup and we can bust this out with the rest of them,”  _ Sam sighed in my ear.

“Yeah, you sound beat,” I whispered but the thought of him lying there with just a sheet on made me smile. “I love you, Sam.”

_ “Love you too, make sure you catch a few too.”  _ he whispered and suddenly the line went dead.

Taking off the headset, I placed it down on the table and looked up at the angel. “Nothing right?”

“On the contrary, maybe you should come and check out the algorithm that the girls have set up.” He raised a brow, looking at me curiously and I closed the files before me, met him on the stairway and the two of us walked down the hall to the study where the girls had quietly set up there base.

Carol, En and Myst had five laptops spread out over the small table but you could see them buzzing around like little worker bees, which was funny considering Bee was actually in the room, tucked in a corner, sitting in one chair while her feet were propped up on another just watching them scurry around, as she twirled the throwing knife in her hand.

“Hey,” I announced as I entered the room, Cas behind me. “You guys need more coffee.”

“I think that would be the last thing they need,” Rylee laughed as she came in the room with a pot of tea and a perfectly balanced tower of cups. “Rose and Lilac invaded your kitchen, sorry.”

“They invaded my what?” I was thoroughly confused.

“Lilac likes to bake when she’s problem solving,” Rylee smiled.

“And Rose seems to think that cleaning the dishes has something to do with zen.” Lotus smiled as she slipped into the room from the adjacent study. “Don’t worry, we’re keeping an eye on them.”

“I thought you were all in bed.” I whispered.

“Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen.” Kat laughed, magically appearing as she grabbed one of the cups and let Rylee fill the damn thing up.

“Okay,” I tried not to shout but it didn’t work. Apparently, I was not used to working with other people because this was getting to be too much. “What the hell is going on?”

“We’re working on your algorithm,” En replied and Myst turned to me smiling.

“And, it’s working,” she added and wiggled her finger at me to come closer to the table. Cas and I, even as the angel was silent, I knew he was behind me, stepped over and looked down at all the nice code that was flying by on the screen. “Okay, check this out. According to the computer, all four of them were killed by the same object.”

“Wolverine’s claws?” I questioned and watched as she rolled her eyes.

“A breaking knife.” Carol spoke up.

“Okay, so how would a breaking knife, which is not, by the way, something most people have, do such a crap job on slicing?” I questioned and watched as En tilted her head. “I’m sorry, and it might seem a little uncaring, but this isn’t a professional slice and dice, they wanted to get to the ribs and they wanted it fast, so why the carnage?”

“Ali!” Bee snapped and I watched the rest of them look at me with a certain horror on their face. I realized what I had said and quickly turned and left the room. The steps that I heard following me were three distinct sets and I stopped only when I hit the library and turned to look at Arrow, Birdy and Danni, who had apparently snuck up on the conversation while I was busy looking at the computer.

“What the hell, Al?” Danni snapped and I shook my head.

“What?” I raised my hands in defeat, glancing behind them as Cas, my angel of a shadow filtered into the room.

“Those were your friends, and you’re what? Talking about them like this is some kind of hunt?” Arrow asked.

“It  _ is _ a hunt and I’m sorry if I’m dissociating them, but it’s how I deal. I can’t look at those pictures and think about the fact that just so many weeks ago we were sharing a table at a bar, or having a stiff one over a freaking open grave.” I growled, and that was when Cas stepped up, placing a hand on my shoulder as he looked down at me, his back to the others. I took a breath, feeling the warmth of his grace seep through me. “Okay, listen, this is how I process, friend or not, I can’t look at them and see people, it has to be a job, otherwise, I’m not going to make it through it.”

Birdy stepped up and slipped her arms around me, as a sigh slipped from my lips and I closed my eyes. Maybe Sam was right, maybe I needed a few hours. I stepped back from her embrace, from Cas’ touch and ran my hands over my face.

“I’m going to head to bed,” I whispered, not to anyone in particular but I cleared my throat, placed my hand on Cas’ arm as I stepped by and walked away, just left them standing there. It had been less than ten hours and I never bothered to process what was going on, but before I hit my room, an idea crossed my mind and I looked over at the others before I slipped down the back hallway.

**Saturday Night - Outside the bunker**

I looked down at the summon spell that was spread out at my feet. Maybe I had been doing this too long, maybe I just wasn’t used to the people anymore, but I knew there was something else going on with this whole deal, something I couldn’t put my finger on and the more monsters I crossed off that ass-kicking list, the better, so I was onto the next baddie and I struck the match, letting it drop into the copper bowl.

The flash lit up the night but it only made me squint a little as I blinked, let my breath out and turned as I heard the footsteps of the approaching being. Cas gave me just a little smirk and stepped up beside me. He could always find me, no matter where I disappeared to and right about now, I could use his company.

“They’re all going to know that you snuck out,” he warned as he looked down at me which only made me grin. 

“Only if you open your big, dumb mouth,” I replied and watched him look at the bowl. Both of us glanced up as the branches snapped in the small brushy area before us. I stuck my hands deep in my pockets, there was no need for a weapon with this monster, especially when she came out of the woods, arms flailing and creeped out because of possible…

“Spiderwebs? Honestly, Porter, you picked here, a place crawling with spiderwebs to call me?” The petite demon dressed all in gothic black growled. Her lips matched her eyeliner, which matched her hair and clothes. Yep, all black. She stopped dead in her tracks and made a gesture towards Cas. “AND you brought the angel, freaking fantastic.”

“Hello, Lynx,” Cas mumbled and I glanced over at him. Did angels blush? Was my angel blushing? At a demon? I rolled my eyes and caught the ones of the creature before me.

“Hello, Cas.” She replied, her own voice going shy and I shook my head.

“Lynx, I need to ask you a few questions,” I interrupted their strange idea of flirtation and got the girl to face me. “Someone’s… something’s killing hunters. I need to know if you’ve heard anything.”

“Yeah, I heard it was pretty gnarly, but it wasn’t any of us,” she answered and stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets. “Word in the underground is that whatever is playing with you, isn’t to be touched, approached, followed or otherwise propositioned for a contract. This is some heavy stuff, P, what the hell did you do?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” I looked up at the sky, taking in the night stars and growled in irritation.

“Maybe it wants you,” she spoke up again, which only got a confused look in her direction.

“What?”

“Hell, you keep growling like that, and I’ll take you myself,” the little minx winked which only got a roll of my eyes. “No, seriously, what if it’s not a killing for pleasure thing, but an eliminating the competition?” 

“She’s got a point,” Danni’s voice spoke up from behind me and I watched as Lynx moved back into the shadows as Danni stepped closer, gun drawn, which had me instantly standing between my sister and the girl, well, monster. “You’re talking to a demon?”

“I can explain,” I sighed and raised my hands but Danni stepped to the side to get a better aim, but this was when Cas stepped in, shielding both Lynx and I from the older sister’s wrath. “Cas.”

“Move, Castiel.” Danni ordered.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.” He answered and glanced down at me. “Lynx has been an allie for several months, she’s provided valuable information to both of us and I can’t let you shoot her.”

“Lynx,” I glanced back at her and watched the demon raise a brow. “Text me, let me know everything you can on this… whatever you believe it to be.”

“Will do, boss, and ah, hi Danvers, nice to see you again,” Lynx smiled and with that she disappeared, not before I could give Danni a questioning look.

“What the hell was that all about?” I snapped as I grabbed the stuff on the ground and went to walk by, watching Danni tuck the gun away.

“I could ask you the same thing, that demon is well, she’s a demon, Ali.” Danni retorted and followed me as Cas took up the rear back into the bunker. The three of us moved down the empty hallway. “She’s nothing but trouble.”

“Yeah and she saved my ass a time or two, so…” I stopped at Sam’s door and looked at Danni. “Lynx has inside information, we have a deal, I don’t hunt her, she keeps the black-eyed egotistical maniacs off my back. So far it’s worked out peachy, I’d like to keep it that way.”

“What else, Ali?” Danni questioned as I stopped in the doorway, my back to her. “What else are you not telling me?”

I turned and looked at her, thought deeply for a moment and bit down on my lip. “My feet hurt and I have to pee.” Cas snorted but quickly covered it with his hand as I finished putting stuff away and watched the door slowly close behind her, the angel standing watch in the corner. “Look, I’m sorry this isn’t the big reunion we were all hoping for, but right now, I think pulling on all our resources to get to the bottom of this is going to be just what we need to do to get it done, don’t you, even if those are less than savory.”

“Okay, so she said what? Something maybe clearing out the competition?” Danni whispered, giving in way too easy. “So why don’t we look into that, give me a list of your last few hunts.”

“Can’t do that,” I replied and sat down on the bed.

“Why not?”

“Well, that’s easy,” I tried not to smile as I shook my head, “Jones erases them.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I was waiting for that, but Danni continued. “You would think that you would have had enough dicking around with memory stuff in September, what would make you agree to that?”

I leaned forward with elbows to my knees. “Maybe the girls should hear this too.”

“Right,” she sighed and turned, leaving the room which was punctuated by her slamming the door.

**Sunday - Just after midnight**

I looked at every face that gathered around me and I took a breath, they filled the war room, all of the women that had become my friends, my family and I turned to look at Cas, who was standing close before I shook my head.

“What if I don’t remember?” I whispered to him, feeling the tingle of his fingers against my cheek. I had already explained that Jones was erasing memories of the hunts in order for me to keep my sanity. The darkness that I was constantly fighting seemed to come on full-force directly after a hunt, when I was in a heightened state but with the memory wipe right after, I had it under control. “Worse yet, what if comes back so hard that I can’t control it, and I hurt someone.”

“I won’t let you,” he whispered, leaning down close to my ear, “do you trust me?”

“Inexplicably,” was the only thing I could answer and he nodded.

“Then let me help you,” he took my hand and led me to the chair in the middle of the room, right in front of them all and he moved to stand behind me. With a deep breath, I stared at each face in the room, felt my heart thump in my chest as the pointer and middle finger of each of his hands caressed my temple. His breath caressed my skin as he leaned down once more. “Ready?”

“Just go, Cas.” I begged, my voice shaky and I closed my eyes. 

A bright white light flashed before me as I felt the grace flow. My heart started to race, my breathing came out in little pants as I gripped the chair tightly, trying not to get the angel to let go as he knocked down every wall that Jones had put up.

I saw the first hunt, as I hid around the corner a gun in hand and when I held my breath and glanced around the corner to get a better view of where the monster was, I watched it move. Hind legs of a goat, seriously, was that right? But it’s hooves made no noise as it walked along the concrete.

The next hunt broke down but the only thing I saw was the growing image of the thing that was in every one. A growing panic started in my chest as the images flowed faster and before my eyes I watched the monster come to life, his upper body that of a man, but still covered in fine dark hair, hands large but ruthless as he held a… was that a flute, in one but a large bowed knife in the other. 

His face was human, for the most part, but his eyes, those were curiously animalistic and horns, like those of a Ram curled up from the side of his head around until the pointed tip of them nearly touched his ear. 

I moved closer in each memory, close enough to touch him, to  _ smell _ him, and I know I gagged, but the fear that he brought to the surface, the one about not being able to control my darkness, of losing myself to that part of me again raged in my eyes as we stood toe to toe not more than  ten days ago.

He held that knife, smiling at me as I twirled the spectrum in my hand, setting my footing as he tilted his head, observed my stance and then glanced over at the body of the innocent. He raised that flute to his mouth but didn’t take a step in either direction and as he smiled at me, the notes that flowed from it sent me cascading into darkness.

I sat up, moved away from Cas, stumbled as I raced from the chair, but arms caught me, multiple sets of loving arms as I fell into the girls, trying to catch my breath and my heart, as I looked up at the confusion on Cas’ face and the worry on Danni’s.

**Sunday - 1 a.m. South Hallway**

“Pan?”  Shifu asked as she followed me down through the halls to the weapons room. With new information, Carol, Myst and En were back at it in the study and Shifu, Lotus, Rose and Kat were arming up with whatever we could get our hands on. We had only so much information. “You’re talking about the Nymph-loving, half-goatman of Greek Mythology Pan?”

“In a nutshell,” I sighed, stopping at the armory door, “yeah.”

“What was he doing?” Kat questioned as I entered the pincode that Sam had given me when I texted and swung the door open.

“Apparently, he was getting his crush on,” I whispered, having been through the whole scenario with the group before we broke off into teams. Taking a deep breath, I gestured for them to enter before I followed suit and grabbed the keys from the small hiding spot under the table. Guns, knives, bullets and stakes lined the cages of the walls and I smiled as Kat whistled, but it was the noise of the fast-paced footsteps that came quickly down the hall and stopped just as I looked up into the doorway at Rylee’s red hair.

“We have a problem,” she stated quite blatantly and my shoulders slumped.

**Sunday - 1:15 a.m.** **Garage**

I climbed the stairs, Rylee moving at lightning speed before me as I came to a stop at the top of the stairs. Danni stood with her arms crossed, Lilac right beside her, M and Bee were checking out the motorcycle that was stashed in the corner but as I made that fateful last movement and headed towards them, I could see their predicament. 

Letting out a breath, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and shook my head. There were two drivable cars in the garage, Danni’s Mustang and Sam’s Charger. I tried to keep my lips from twisting up into a grin as I looked over the sleek Dodge but Danni gave me a knowing sneer, to which my grin quickly faded.

“Not enough transportation, no matter where we find this bastard,” Lilac spoke up, verbalizing everything that the rest of us were thinking.

“We’re gonna need wheels, sixteen of us are not going to fit into these two.” Rylee spoke up.

“Not in those heels,” Bee teased as she came to stand beside her, both women the same height, which was great because they both towered over me and I smiled at the fact that I felt as if I had my own bodyguards, but I crossed my arms and thought for a moment before I glanced at Danni.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” I questioned.

“Ah-huh, only one person you would go to when you need a set of wheels, or several in this case without any questions asked.” Danni grinned and all I could do was nod before I moved past her towards the Charger. 

She wasn’t far behind, her concern for me and my health was always there but when I ran my hands over the sleek lines of the car and stopped at the open window, pondering for a moment, she rolled her eyes.

“Hello, Beautiful,” I whispered, reaching into touch the cold vinyl of Sam’s driver’s seat, the smile inching up on my lips, and Danni leaned in the passenger's side. “Remember me?”

For a moment, I felt her stare before she stood and placed her hands on the roof, looking over at me. When I glanced up, my eyes full of mischief, her nose wrinkled and she shook her head.

“Oh,” she growled, disgusted, “that’s just gross!”

And with that, she turned and walked away.

**Sunday - 1:35 am - Library**

I cleared my throat as I stepped up and looked at Birdy and Arrow, who seemed deep in conversation, and both stopped to turn in my direction. Taking a seat beside him, I propped my feet up on the table and sat back, closing my eyes.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this.” I whispered and felt Arrow’s hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t think that when Jones erased them it was because of the fear, not the fight that I deal with.”

“You can’t kick yourself in the ass for every monster you face, Al, that’s not how this is supposed to work.” Birdy answered and I opened my eyes to take in the room around me. “Your boys have a pretty good set-up here. I could see your three hellions taking over.”

“Yeah, I think they would give the boys a run for their money.” I smiled and put my feet down, eyes still heavy and I blinked away the emotions.

“What happened between you and Sam?” Arrow asked and those heavy eyes of mine snapped pretty quickly in her direction.

I cleared my throat, “life, I guess.” I replied and stood up. “I think I need that four hours now. Everyone should think of getting some, I have a feeling this isn’t going to be as easy as we think.”

“You just worry about you,” Arrow ordered, “we’ve got our own selves handled.”

“Right,” I nodded and pushed the chair in, “G’night.”

~~~~~

In the darkness of Sam’s room, I stared at the walls, not sure what I was going to do to even slip into some sort of dream, but the door opened slowly and the one person that I had come to trust as much as Danni stood silhouetted in the doorway. 

He slipped in, shucked off his jacket and moved beside me on the bed. He didn’t say anything as the weight of his body only rolled me closer before he pushed up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, much like Dean did. I took a deep breath, taking in Cas’ scent, because any angel that smelled like him was definitely home, and sleep didn’t evade me for much longer. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay either.

**Sunday - 3:32 am - Sam’s room**

The hideously loud knock at the door only managed to rouse me from sleep and bring up the deep growl that was locked in my throat. Dreams, thanks Cas, were null but the fact that I was still in need of some sort of sleep and didn’t want to be awake seemed clear in the disapproving noise. 

“What?” I grouched and the door opened slowly.

“Al?” That would be En and her cautious voice when she checked that she had the right room. “We found something.”

I wanted to yell, but there was no point. They were only trying to get to the bottom of this, like the rest of us so I blinked my tired eyes open and turned to look at the angel who was staring wide-eyed at me. He smiled, reached over and pressed his fingers against my head, letting me feel instantly awake and less tired as the two of us scooted from the bed.

Once I had changed and made my way out toward the library, where most of the crew had gathered, I caught the smell of the fresh brewed pot of coffee from the kitchen and I wondered what kind of ordeal I was going to go through to get one this morning, but as Danni past, she handed me a cup, made just the way I liked and winked.

I smiled at her and shook my head before I took the first sip and relished in the heavenly taste of it. Cas’ hand rested on the small of my back as he moved by, his hair typically standing in every direction as he kissed my forehead and headed to the empty chair in the back of the group. 

Everyone seemed to have coffee or tea, whichever was their poison, and in fact, I watched as two raised their cups, filled with soda and I shook my head, moving towards the front of the group, where I could turn and look at each of them, and keep an eye on my angel in the back.

“Okay, so,” I whispered, clearing my throat, hoping to get rid of the deep, throaty voice left over from sleep, “what do we got?”

“Well,” Carol spoke up, “you were right.”

“Hmm,” I said and looked mischievously at Danni, giving her a smirk, “I was right.”

“Shut it!” Danni quipped back and rolled her eyes, giving me a wink in the process. “So, what was she right about?”

“Well, it is Pan.” Carol continued and Danni shook her head as I gave her a sideways grin. “And we think we know where to find him.”

“Okay, let’s just back it up and you can give me everything you have.” I asked, and as much as it sounded like it came out snappy, and it might have, I didn’t mean it that way.

“The autopsies had more than just slash marks,” En added, and walked up past me, flicked off the lights and I watched as the boys’ whiteboard became a large projector screen. On it showed pictures of symbols. “These were carved into the wrists and ankles of each of the… victims.”

“Wait, those aren’t Enochian,” Danni whispered as I stepped closer.

“No, they’re Greek.” I answered, running my hand along the carvings on the screen. “Each one a symbol for the gods. They were sacrifices.”

“That’s what we got too. Doesn’t explain the Enochian on the ribs though.” Myst replied as she hit a button and we were shown a picture of the ribs. A few of the girls in the back moaned, it was too early for gory stuff and I sighed, nodding to them to take it down from the large screen as I moved over to the laptop they were using.

“Actually, it kind of does,” Danni replied, stepping closer. “If the message was left for Ali and it had been following her for so long then it knew little things about her, like that she could read Enochian, it probably never thought that she could read Greek, so it went with the thing most familiar.”

“You’re so smart.” I snickered and Danni’s hand came up, slapping me across the arm.

“You can read Greek?” Kat questioned.

“It’s not as good as my Latin,” I shrugged and looked at the girls, begging them to go on.

“So, we have four sacrifices, thing is, what the coroner missed  _ AGAIN _ , was the fact that small pieces of organs were missing.” 

Did I mention how much I hated monsters?

“Tell me it’s not for some sort of spell,” I mumbled under my breath but the smile on Castiel’s face told me he was the only one that heard it.

“Probably for some sort of spell.” Carol finished and I shook my head.

“Do we know where to find said monster?” M questioned and Myst smiled.

“Oh yeah, we’ve got it pinpointed right down to the room number.” She boasted.

“Let me guess,” Lotus smiled, “some abandoned warehouse.”

“School, actually,” En replied and Shifu tried to hide her smile.

“Even worse,” was the other woman’s reply, and I stifled a laugh.

“Okay, so let’s get the details and get this ball rolling, the countdown only gives us…” I started but looked at Cas for help.

“Fifteen hours, thirty-four minutes and twenty-three seconds,” the angel replied.

“Way to put the pressure on, Angel Boy!” Bee smiled and I watched as Cas gave her a sideways grin, blushing in the process.

“Well, what he said.” I sighed and watched the girls get up and move, like they were a force to be reckoned with, which they indeed were but we still had to figure out how to get to that school. I stopped Carol, En and Mystrye. “Where exactly are we going?”

Myst glanced at the other two, “New Salem, Kansas.”

“Are you kidding me,” I whispered and Danni shook her head.

“About three hours and forty-five minutes, give or take.” Carol shrugged.

“New Salem, with a deity?” I smiled and crossed my arms, raising a brow, “not at all prophetic.”

“I don’t get it,” Carol whispered. I gave her a wink and headed out of the room, Cas and Danni followed as I made my way into the kitchen to refill the cup of coffee from the still hot pot, before I turned towards the two of them.

“Okay, so now we know where we’re going and we can easily get there by grabbing a few extra cars,” I shrugged and grinned at the woman beside me, “too bad that Dean didn’t leave Baby, I so could go for a ride in that backseat.”

“You only ever take the backseat when on of the boys is driving,” she rolled her eyes but then I watched as she stopped dead and realized what she had said. “Crap! That’s not what I meant.”

“Anyway,” I poured a little sugar into the cup and stirred it as I chose not to respond to her slip of the tongue. “Granny’s place opens in what, about two and a half hours?” she nodded as she refreshed her cup. “Then I’m thinking one thing but it means a trip to the store.”

“What could you possibly be thinking about at this ungodly hours?” Danni grumbled, getting as much sleep as I had, but I grinned at her and raised the cup to my lips.

“Breakfast.” 

**Sunday - 4:13 am - Library**

You gotta love when you have Angel Air on your side and knowledge of a Denny’s close to the area. On the two large library tables was a spread of breakfast food to feed and army and I stood by the post watching just that, an army feed.

I was proud, so proud of the girls, the women that had become part of my family, albeit a strange and unusual one with a predisposition towards sharp, shiny objects and things that went bang, but man, I wouldn’t ever trade any of them for the world. 

Myst walked up and stood beside me, plate in hand and raised a brow. “You gonna grab some before it’s all gone?”

“Already did,” I replied, crossing the arm not holding the hot mug across my chest, tucking my fingers into the bend in my elbow. “Cas grabbed a seperate to-go box for me when he was there.”

“He’s a good boyfriend,” she winked.

“Not my boyfriend,” I laughed and she just gave a small smile.

“You keep telling yourself that, but the love in that angel’s eyes,” she paused, “how did you steal him from Dean?”

I forgot she loved to give him hell about his relationship with the older Winchester, much like all of them did and both of us turned our gazes to Cas, who may have not been eating but had joined the girls at the farthest end of the table and was trying hard to keep up with the conversation that were going on.

“Easy enough,” I smiled, “I didn’t, they kind of come as a triad, and while the other two seem to have other distractions, this one likes to stay close, so no matter what happens, he can be at my side or Danni’s whenever we call.”

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” Kat questioned as she stuffed a piece of bacon in her mouth, gracefully before I cleared my throat and glanced down the table again, watching Birdy pick up the pieces of thin meat that someone had so cruelly placed on her plate in disgust before dropping them on Arrow’s.

“Just waiting, Kat, got a few hunters that I need for this next outing and then, we’re off to New Salem. If you’re done, pack your bags, make sure your guns are locked and loaded. The next four hours on the road might not be fun, depending on who you’re driving with.” I grinned and watched as she looked me over. Yeah, her and I had taken the GTO for a spin before, outrunning a werewolf and she scoffed at me.

“Did you finally put a five-point in that little demon?” She growled, apparently my driving didn’t impress her.

“Oh, I’m not taking mine,” I grinned, thinking of the dark-colored Dodge that sat ready and waiting in the garage and she just shook her head before she turned and mumbled under her breath.

“I hope that Winchester has full coverage.” She spouted as she walked away, and I couldn’t help but let that grin turn into a full smile.

**Sunday - 7:30 am - Granny’s Place.**

Danni, Birdy, Rylee, and I stood in front of the small bar which looked like a pretty nice establishment. The outside was beautiful brick siding with the same red-brick colored, shuttered fake windows that lined the second floor. The first floor was tinted windows, three large, eight paned ones graced the front before the arch-way door, another brick color and wooden this time slowly opened.

“You gonna come in, or are you going to stand out there in the cold and make everyone think that I’m not running a legitimate business?” Granny whispered as she smiled, greeting each one of us as we slipped in through the door, but she looked at Danni, Cas and I before she shook her head. “I knew hearing from you there might be trouble.”

“Don’t worry Granny,” I said and gently laid my hand on her shoulder, “your legitimacy secret is safe with me.”

“You haven’t kicked her ass yet?” She asked Danni as I slipped by, “cause if you don’t I certainly can.”

“Nah, Granny, I think I got it covered, I’m just waiting to get the jump on her,” Danni laughed as Cas moved by and the door slowly closed. “You know the best time to kick a Porter is when she’s in the middle of a battle and has everyone coming from all sides.”

“You sure that’s the  _ best _ time, she might be handing yours to you if that was the case.” Granny chuckled as she walked past.

“You have a point,” Danni replied and stepped up beside me and the two other women in the room. 

“So what can I do for you fine ladies,” she smiled as she slipped behind the bar and set four cups on the counter before gesturing towards Cas with one. The silent angel just smile but politely shook his head. Granny poured each of us a cup of piping hot coffee and we all stepped forward, preparing it as we liked. “Wait, before we begin, should I bring out the plausible deniability clause?”

“We’re looking for two cars,” Rylee spoke up as she took a sip of the coffee and I watched her brows go up, “oh this is good.”

“My own special blend.” Granny smiled.

“Goes with her legitimate establishment routine.” I whispered as I smiled.

“Alison Porter, don’t make me bring out my stick!” Granny quipped but grinned in the process. “Thank you, Red, I happen to enjoy making my own coffee.” But her attention turned back to Danni and I. “Cars? Dare I ask?”

“Probably not,” Danni replied and set the cup down on the Sam Adam’s coaster. “Transportation issues, too many hunters, not enough wheels and it would be best if we left it at that.”

“How far you going, and how many do you need?” Granny questioned, taking a rag as she cleaned the counter, trying to ignore the stare of the angel, but after a moment she stopped and looked him in the eyes. “What do you see when you look at me, Halo?”

“You’re not…” he was staring at her with a questioning look, but he decided that he wasn’t going to try and take the direct approach. “There is definitely something unique about you.”

“You can say that again,” Danni snickered and quickly took a sip of her coffee, trying to avoid the reprimand.

“Cas,” I smiled turning in my seat as I stretched out a hand for the angel to take. Granny seemed surprised when he came close enough to wrap my fingers in his but it was when he moved to stand protectively behind Danni and I that she smiled. “Granny is a hunter’s helper of a sorts.”

“Hunter’s… helper?” Cas whispered, not grasping the concept

“Locator spells and all manners of stuff things that go poof,” Danni replied and watched as the angel thought for a moment before he tilted his head just a little, eyeing her over once more and then nodded 

“I see,” he whispered.

“I’m sure you do,” Granny winked and her eyes landed back on mine, then moved to Danni. “So, cars, you said you needed two, and as far as how far, well, when you bring them back, we’ll call it square.”

“So,” Rylee whispered, looking between me, Birdy and Danni, as if she were the only one out of the loop, “where do you keep the cars?”

**Sunday - Granny’s Place - Basement**

“Wow!” Birdy whistled as we stepped down the last few steps into the dark basement when suddenly the lights went up and all I could do was smile. Both walls were lined with six cars each, and the one that would be the solid wall was a small ramp heading up to a bulkhead large enough for any of them to fit through.

They were sports car, old muscles cars, and pickup trucks, all loaded and ready for use, especially if it was a hunter needing to use them. Something caught Rylee’s eye as she moved past me, a quiet “excuse me” escaping her lips as she headed for the 72’ Duster, and then there was Birdy, who I found surprisingly gravitating towards the dual cab pick-up.

“Well, looks like we found our wheels,” Danni smiled as I watched Rylee’s fingers run over the paintjob of the car. She looked as if she were in heaven. Birdy hopped behind the wheel, letting her hands glide over the steering wheel.

“Okay, rules,” Granny snapped as she turned around to face us, holding out the registration for those precise models, something that I gave her an old look for and the woman winked. “If you get caught, I don’t know you, if you get arrested, I’ll have a gofundme set up to bail you out. If you get a scratch on the paint job, it’s coming out of your rear. Otherwise, carry on.”

She turned and hit the button on the post beside her and the bulkhead opened slowly, letting in the light from the afternoon.

“Have I ever told you that you’re the best?” I grinned at the older woman.

“Only every time you need something.” Granny smiled back, taking me into a hug before she let me loose and hugged Danni too. With a breath she looked up at Cas, “take care of my girls while our boys are away. I know you do a fine job already, Feathers, but we need these women to be around for awhile.”

“I don’t plan on letting them out of my sight.” Cas replied stoically, “you have my word.”

“And, I’ll keep you to it, Angel.” She stated as she kissed his cheek. Cas gave a quick smirk before he headed towards the Duster, deciding that riding with Rylee would give him time to familiarize himself with the car and the woman. Danni moved over and hopped up into the truck with Birdy, before Granny turned to me. “You needn’t worry, little one, you’re adventures here aren’t done, a warning though, to the wise, the magic is all in the eyes.”

I looked at her, listened to the strange voice that left her lips, higher than hers, even a bit more… feminine, but just as she finished her sentence, Granny shook and cleared her throat.

“Are you okay, Gran?” I questioned and watched her smile.

“It’s all good, Alison,” she nodded towards the car, “carry on.”

I nodded, just a simple nod before I moved down the walkway towards the exit and raised my hand for the girl to fire’m up. The Duster roared to life, a beautiful machine that seemed to purr as Rylee moved it towards me and the large ramp but it was the truck that echoed as it growled and this made me turn my head just a bit towards Birdy, who winked and put it in gear. 

As I moved out into the morning light, the two cars behind me, I couldn’t help but feel two things, the excitement of the upcoming chase and fear of the warning from whatever little bit of prophetic chatter Granny had channeled. 

As Rylee turned right out of the basement, disappearing around the corner, I stood in the back parking lot of the bar and looked around. With the truck idling up the ramp behind me, my eyes scanned the empty lot, save for her car, and a chill raced through me. Before I could blink, Cas was by my side, his hand on my upper arm, fingers sliding around to pull me closer and I took in a deep breath. 

“They know the way, Ali,” he whispered, which made me  _ hmm _ as I looked up at him, not really hearing what he had said so close to my ear. “The girls, they know the way, let me take you home.”

“Yeah,” I cleared my throat. “Good idea.”

I brought out my phone, shot Danni, and Rylee a group text and looked up at Cas as his eyes became the only thing that I saw and before I knew it, I wasn’t standing outside anymore, I was among the hustle and bustle of the crowded bunker.

**Sunday - 8:36 am - kitchen**

I heard her walk in before I looked up, the plate full of food before me and the autopsy reports for one of the hunters in my hand, a piece of bacon in the other. I eyed over the diagrams that filled the page, turning the paper just so in order to make sense of it, while I sat at the old table that took up the back part of the kitchen. The four round seats were bolted to the floor and hard as rocks but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the reheated food and a fresh cup of coffee.

“What’s up?” I questioned without looking up, even when Loki sat down across from me. She had been one that was the most silent since the beginning and I knew she would have questions.

“How are you holding up?” The petite woman looked me over as I finally made eye contact with her and shrugged. “Bull crap, Porter, we’ve worked together too many times for you to just shrug stuff off. So answer it, how are you holding up?”

“Hunky-freaking-dory, Lok, same as always,” I replied before going back to the reports and taking a bit of the bacon. “The cars should be here soon, we can load up and get this party moving, other than that, I’m sitting here enjoying food and looking over a report that I never want to see again,” I gave her a fake smile and my eyes flicked up to hers again, “feels like old times, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, you were always the one to be nose deep in research, so tell me what your keen eyes are showing you.” Her voice went lower, like she knew I was having an issue with something but the fact that she said eyes seemed to trigger something in me. I stood quickly, dropping the bacon and the paper before I moved from the kitchen, past her and up the steps towards the library. “What the hell did I say?”

I felt her following me as I flipped open one of the laptops there and brought the image up on the screen before I expanded it to fit the whiteboard again. Stepping back, I bit down on my lip as Loki moved beside me again. 

“Okay, what are we looking at?” She questioned.

The last images that the other had opened were the ones of the symbols carved on the bodies, but they didn’t make any sense alone, not just scrambled around like that. I knew they were Gods, Greek gods but there was something else to them. 

“Hang on,” I sighed and rearranged the pictures before I looked at them a little sideways as stepped back. Nope, still too close. I pulled the whiteboard to the edge of the library steps and moved back just past the map table. Damn! Still too close. “Can you press the zoom button on the laptop when I tell you to?”

“Yea, cause you know I’m very adept at pushing buttons,” she winked but it was more of a snarky response and I couldn’t help the grin. 

I headed up the stairs and stopped midway, just before I ducked down and shook my head. “Um, four hundred percent, and tilt the board a little.”

“What am I, Vanna White?” Loki laughed, “you want me to model it too?”

“Listen Wheel of Fortune, just do what I ask!” I snapped back and watched as she hit the buttons and I slowly moved up a few steps. “Center it,  _ please, _ ” I asked, rolling the last word off with a bit of sarcasm. Loki shook her head and did what I asked just as I reached the top of the iron landing. “WAIT!”

“Christ, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” She snapped but the expression faded from her face as the color drained from mine. “What? What is it?”

“We missed something,” I whispered and looked down at the fact that all sixteen symbols created one that I knew well, “holy hell, we missed something.”

As I looked down on the board, the devil’s trap stared out at me. Of course we wouldn’t see it in sixteen pieces, but here, all put in order, it was right there all the time and my eyes turned to Loki as I slowly sat down on the stairs.

**Sunday - 8:47 am - Stairway**

“What do you mean  _ demons _ exactly?” Danni questioned as she stood above me, even though she was two steps down and I rolled my eyes once before looking up at her. 

“They were demons, before Pan did whatever slasher movie crap he decided to do on them, they were possessed.” I replied and shook my head.

“And you know this, why? Because of your morbid little rubix cube?” 

“Wanna stop being an ass and listen?” I snapped and watched as Danni stood up straight. “The autopsy report gave some clues to the fact that yeah, each hunter was possessed. Sulfuric odors in the skin and blood samples, strange dilation of the pupils perimortem, and don’t say that was because some goat-legged freak was tearing them up, they were possessed while Pan was going at it.”

“How did the demons get in, I thought you said all of them were tattooed.” Danni asked, confused, but I held the photographs out to her and watched as she cringed before taking them. “So, what am I looking at?”

“Pan’s little “wolverine action”, it wasn’t done to throw us off the trail of the monster, it was done to cover the fact that the tattoo was burned off.” I whispered and watched her eyes crease before she shivered. 

“Like with what, a brand?” She flipped through the pictures as I shrugged.

“Blowtorch maybe, could have been anything, but we can’t know because their all shredded cheese.” I shrugged and looked down at the screen before raising a brow in Loki’s direction. “We gotta make sure they’re all good, I mean charms, tats, something, so whatever hellraiser is helping Pan can’t get into the girls.”

“Right,” Danni whispered and handed me the paper. “I’m gonna get right on that, I know where Dean keeps the charms,” she pointed a finger at me, “you should call, by the way, he was asking about you.”

“I will,” I nodded and she slowly turned to move down the stairs, while I took a breath and pulled out the phone. My finger hovered over Dean’s number and I hesitated for just a moment before I slipped it away and stood, heading down the stairs to see what had to be done next so we could get on the road.

**Sunday - 9:06 am - outside the bunker.**

I stood on the other side of the road, my arms crossed and a broad smile on my face as I looked over the small caravan of cars. The Charger, Mustang, Silverado, and Duster all sat idling in a row as Bee came cruising out of the garage on the Harley that the boys had somehow acquired, and I thought back to that one time that Sam had… yeah, that man on a Harley had been the best thing I had ever seen, and I took a deep breath to shake it off.

Danni stepped up beside me and observed as all everyone moved to their designated cars, packing duffles in the trunks and arguing over shotgun. The only thing I could picture was my kids getting ready for a roadtrip and the smile faded from my face. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat.

“Are we ready?” I whispered and Danni raised a brow.

“As we are ever going to be,” she replied, to which I gave a nod and took a step towards the car only to be blocked by the sudden appearance of Cas. I reached out, grabbed his shirt and held on, since he nearly knocked me backwards.

“Hey, angel,” I smiled up at him and felt his hands come out to push my hair from my neck, “are you riding with us or are you meeting us there?”

“I believe going in first would be the best option, don’t you?” he questioned, but there was a little doubt in his voice as if he wasn’t sure about leaving us. 

“We have sixteen hunters here, Cas, we need to know everything we can about this place so that we all come out in the end.”  I agreed.

“Then I’ll meet you there.” he leaned down and kissed me squarely in the center of my forehead, his lips lingering for a second before he drew in a breath and suddenly, I could almost feel Dean, feel him doing the same thing before he stepped back. I let my hands drop and he moved to embrace Danni, pulling her close as he sighed.  “Don’t drive like Dean.”

And then he was gone.

With a small sigh, I continued towards my car. “Okay, Autobots, roll out!”

This got a few audible laughs from the girls as I smiled over at Danni before climbing in behind the wheel of the Charger and gave the gas a little push. The revving of the motor was echoed by the sounds of the girls behind me before I put it in gear and pulled away.

**Sunday - 10:14 am - the road so far.**

“ _ Castiel calling, _ ” the little electronic voice on the dash spoke up, interrupting the music that blared through the car and I glanced down at the steering wheel to hit the accept button.

“Cas?” I whispered, “what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“Such a good girlfriend,” Kat mumbled in the backseat and I gave her a small shake of my head before I focused back on the road.

_ “Nothing’s wrong, I thought call with an update,” _ he said softly,  _ “it’s easier to keep any eye on the building instead of dropping in unexpectedly into the car with three people who might draw a gun on me, or an angel blade.” _

Kat snickered again, “such a good boyfriend,” to which Loki laughed this time. 

“Alright, alright!” I reprimanded the two of them and rolled my eyes. “ _ The girls _ are going to call up the other cars, get everyone in on this little call.”

“Crap, I didn’t do anything and still I get in trouble, how fair is that?” Shifu growled but smiled at me as all three dug out their phone.

I didn’t wait for them to make the calls, I was concerned about the man on the other end. “You’re safe, right, Cas? I mean, you’re not hurt or anything, are you?”

_ “No, Ali, I’m fine, I promise,”  _ he whispered, as if it wouldn’t echo through the car.  _ “I did get a text from Sam though, he made a valid point. If this is the Pan of Greek legends, how do you intend to kill him? There isn’t much in the lore about the way to dispose of a god.” _

“Lock him away with Zeus’ trap?” I shrugged, it was actually the only thing I had thought of besides going in full arsenal, but I knew it might not help. “Why does he have something else in mind?”

_ “Nothing that isn’t almost just as deadly as going headlong into a battle with a God you know almost nothing about,” _ Cas sighed,  _ “he had recommended a similar imprisonment spell.” _

“Wonderful, you know if that Winchester decided that his ass should be here instead of… “ I growled

_ “Not the time, Ali.” _ Cas snapped, which had me cut off before I could continue, but he was right, so I took a deep breath. 

“I think we have everyone on board, so what do you do you got Cas?”

_ “The building is four-stories, rundown and pretty heavily overgrown, there seems to be only one entrance that isn’t blocked off by something,”  _ he started.

_ “A strategic move, no doubt.” _ Danni’s voice echoed beside me and I nodded, not that she could see me. _ “So, do we have any best ways in besides just kicking in the front door?” _

_ “Unfortunately, no,”  _ Cas answered,  _ “The only way through the gate is right up front and after that it will take some quick maneuvering to get through to any place that isn’t head-on.” _

Quick maneuvering, huh? “Can you sneak pictures, Cas?” 

_ “I already did, but I didn’t send them to your phone, since you have a tendency to drive distracted.”  _ He pointed out. Way to throw me under the bus, Cas!  _ “Let me know when you stop and I’ll send them right away. I’m going to assume that you have a plan brewing.” _

“I always have a plan brewing, Cas, you should know that by now.” I smiled and focused on the road as the thoughts flowed through my head, before I noticed a sign. “There’s a rest stop ten miles ahead, I’m stopping there. Everyone got that?”

_ “Got it,”  _ Rylee answered.

_ “Ten-four,” _ Birdy replied, _ “Arrow is calling Bee to let her know too.” _

“Awesome, see you all there.” I whispered and grabbed the Bluetooth headphones that hung from the hook on the dash, transferred Cas’ call to those and watched as the girls ended their calls with the others. “It’s just you and me, Cas, tell me.”

_ “What makes you think I’m holding anything back?” _

“You think I don’t know you like the back of my hand?” I laughed, “Try living with you for almost six months, you get to know a man, it’s how Dean calls you out every time.”

_ “There’s a power here,”  _ he said softly,  _ “one that I have never felt before, and I’m not sure I’m entirely comfortable letting you, or any of the girls, going in on it.” _

“Well, we appreciate you concern, but it’s got to be done.” I tried to hide the smile in my voice, “besides, I’ll have you beside me the whole time, right?”

_ “I wouldn’t be anywhere else,”  _  he answered but that was when I heard him sigh, just before the line went dead. 

I took a deep breath, removed the headset and glanced at the girls in the car. The four of us sat in silence until we pulled into the rest stop, the other three cars and the motorcycle behind us and all of us piled out.

**Sunday - 10:46 am - rest area**

I leaned on the hood, my feet crossed at the ankles as my elbows rested on the warm metal and I looked over the drawing, comparing it to the pictures that Cas had sent. He was right, there was very little wiggle room, but as the girls began to gather around, most with coffee or sodas in hand, bags full of snacks and road food, I realized just how much  _ wiggle _ room we didn’t need.

“So what’s the plan, Capt’n?” En questioned as I stood straight and dropped the pen on the pad of paper.

“Well, like Cas said, looks like entrance number one is a straight shot through the front door,” I shrugged and watched the way their faces dropped. None of them liked to go in like that and I knew it, “however, there are a few spots where we can sneak a few people in, make it a sneak attack so long as we can keep it quiet.”

“You think you can crawl in under a God’s nose?” Carol questioned, which only got me to nod.

“That’s it exactly,” I looked over at Danni, who had crossed her arms and was looking at me concerned. “Okay, so here’s what we got…”

**Sunday - 1:22 pm - School, New Salem, Kansas**

“Team one, Danni, Lotus and En, you go in through the east side, about halfway down the building is a broken basement window, but you have to stay close to the wall, there isn’t a whole lot of room to move, and even smaller space to hide.” I had told them as we sat at the rest stop and now we were executing the plan.

Cas was right, the place was a rundown pile of crap with probably worse floors and deadly consequences waiting to happen, but we had to get in and get this done. He had managed to pinpoint where the baddie was, third floor in what looked like a science room, large open space with tables instead of desks.

“Team two, that would be me, Loki and Kat. North side of the building this time, there’s a fire entrance that isn’t quit shut, you can tell by the door that there is now way that baby is locked, let alone sealed, so we’re going to go in. The blueprints that Cas was able to get access to shows a staircase on all four sides of the building, convenient but probably just as much an open invitation for Pan to attack, so keep your guard up and watch your six.”

I watched as Danni and the girls disappeared around the corner of the east side before I ducked back down behind the large trailer that was on the property. It was scheduled for demolition, so there were nothing but machines surrounding it, that and containers full of whatever was needed to bring the building down. Looking at the others in the party, I brought the Walther up and used to fingers to signal the next group to go.

“Shifu and Arrow, you two have the back, it’s not ideal but the fire escape that scales the building is on that side, all I need you to do is get up to the third floor and check it out, not sure what side of the building you’re ending up on but my bet is, you’re going to have to open a window and crawl in. The science lab is on the right, about a quarter of the way down. Take the prints, study it, make yourself familiar with it and don’t forget to keep your guns ready, if you find Pan, fire at will, especially if he comes at you.”

I turned and looked at the others that remained behind me and closed my eyes. I didn’t pray, didn’t need to usually but this one was a special prayer. Keep my girls safe, let us get out of here alive and in one piece. Taking a deep breath I opened my eyes and looked straight into Cas’ as Arrow and Shifu disappeared behind the building.

“Team four, Birdy, Lilac, Rylee and M, you’re our straight-at-it team, right at the front, straight through the doors. Let nothing stop you, and don’t worry, you get the prize. You’ll have an angel over your shoulder. Once in the front door, its up the stairs and to left, don’t worry about noise, we want him to hear you guys coming because team five will have a special prize for him when this is all over.”

I watched them move before I stood and grabbed Loki and Kat, nodded at Carol and Myst as they pulled out the computers, and winked. Oh, this one was going to be interesting. The three of us moved quickly around the building, headed towards the north side and just as we walked up the steps, all three of us put our back to the wall, listening to the groan of the fire escape before it settled down, and Kat pulled out the crowbar.

The door opened without issue, and to our surprise, there wasn’t a squeak to be heard but as I ducked in, surveying the area as Kat followed and Loki let it close, I was sure that at some point the fun part of this was going to start.

I could almost hear the others making their way quietly around the building, but my ears were turned to them, to be able to pinpoint the way they walked, that and I had worked with all of them, knew their little idiosyncrasies, so as we moved, I knew just where each one was. 

When we reached the third floor, I stopped. Standing out in the open hallway, I listened, there should have been more hunters on this floor, more bodies in motion, but everything was silent. I raised a hand, essentially stopping the girls behind me and shook my head as I nodded to the two other directions that I needed them to go. 

Ahead of me was the science room, the two doors that gave access to it were wide open and I could almost see the flickering of the candles that lit up the inside of the room, but still, everything was silent. Until it wasn’t.

The sounds of gunshots rang out, making me duck down as I drew closer to the walls, and I moved quickly towards my target. They weren’t on our floor, but somewhere on the second. The sounds of a fight began to echo through the halls.

_ Cas? _ I sent the thought out quickly, like a second reflex and waited for him to answer me back.

_ Demons! _ His deep voice bit back.  _ They’re surrounded. _

_ Angel blades? _ One of the most important things that I made sure each of them carried.

_ Oh I think they’re holding their own. _ Cas’ reply came with a smile as I listened to the screams of the monsters and the echo of the Latin ritual.

_ Stay with them, Cas. I got this. _

With those words, I moved into the room, stood straight and held my gun out, safety off, pointing it right at the monster that paced the front of the room.

I watched it stand straight… it… him? Heard the clop of his… it’s… hooves as it turned, we’re just gonna go with it, because, yeah. It’s eyes did this strange thing, blinked from left to right, then from top to bottom, which thoroughly freaked me out as I stepped closer. Behind it, on one of the long tables were copper bowls dripping over the sides with blood and in one hand it held the curved knife, the other his flute.

It’s tongue clicked, bringing my attention back to its face, the way his nose and mouth seemed to be elongated almost made me think of an animal and I watched it tilt its head, a very Cas-like move.

“Don’t move, or I swear I will shoot you!” I growled and the smile crept up on its lips.

“In the second it takes you to pull that trigger,” he whispered, his voice low and seductive (okay, maybe we’re going to go with his), “I will make your friends gut each other.”

His eyes flickered to the spot just behind me and I chanced a glance in that direction, shocked to see Arrow and Shifu tip to tip with angel blades pointed right at each other’s throats. They didn’t seem to see me, just each other, as they stared blankly.

“What the hell are you after?” I snapped, turning back to him and he clicked his tongue again.

“You, of course,” he said very selfishly. “I saw you once, your bravery and the way you moved and then I saw your darkness. You’re very much like a nymph you know.”

“Not at all like one, thanks. I’ve seen nymphs, they’re not very pleasant.” I snapped back and shivered at the thought of the last one I had run into, covered in black slime as if it had crawled out of the tarpit. 

“You haven’t seen the real ones, the beautiful ones.” He defended and I shook my head, letting my thumb cock back the hammer. Outside the battles continued, the sounds of gunshots and demons screaming filled the air, things falling, breaking and the scent of blood all but took over every sense that I had. “I want you, Hunter, not these other ones, they can go free for all I care. The demons, they are just merely a distraction.”

“And if I say you can’t have me?” I growled, but watched as he only shrugged and brought the flute up to his mouth. 

The tune that flowed from it was intoxicating, and as much as I fought with my hands to keep the gun level, they fought against me. I knew I should have taken the earplugs that I had handed out to the other girls at the rest area, not that I knew just how many were using them, but I knew that soon the noises that echoed through the empty building stopped, and I found myself staring at him.

My breath came out in shuddered pants as he stepped closer, and when the gun was finally lowered to my waist, his knife was sheathed and he reached out to touch me with callous fingers. I found myself falling into the music, forgetting the world around me and I knew that he had me.

What had I done? Instead of coming after him myself, I had put the girls in danger. Instead of facing my demons alone, I might have killed the very people I held dear, but I watched in awe as he lowered the flute, but the music played on. His eyes blinked twice again and that was when I saw the gleam in his eyes.

_ A warning to the wise… _

I swallowed hard, took a deep breath in and begged my body to move, but the closer he got, the louder the music was, the more he took over… until he stopped. I heard a muffled  _ umph _ , watched the shock grow on his face and suddenly, my power seemed to flash before me, his body became the red and black that I had always seen the darkness as, before it faded and he stood before me, lips parted as he stared at me in confusion.

Everything seemed to move at once, the demons attacked, the girls retaliated, the two behind me dropped the blades and screamed out my name, but what got me was the man that stepped just to the side of the monster in front of me before glancing down. I flowed his gaze, down to the bloody tip of the wooden stake that poked out from the chest of the creature.

My arms were my own, and I suppressed a growl before bringing the gun back up. I knew that there was no way the stake was going to hold him. There was something else that needed to be done.

“Cas, move!” I snapped and brought the gun up swiftly, firing two shots in quick succession, right into each eye of the God.

It started as a little spark, the blue light behind those bloody holes and swiftly, I raised my arm, covered my eyes and even with the shelter, still saw the bright, blinding light that flashed through the room. 

When I lowered it, the sounds of the battle were still going on, and Cas was standing there, having not moved to save himself from the flash. Rolling my eyes, I reached out and grabbed his sleeve before turning to Arrow and Shifu.

“Come on, our sisters still need us.” I snapped and the four of us ran from the room.

**Sunday - 2:13 pm - outside.**

I squatted down in front of Rose and touched the wet cloth to the cut on her face. The woman smiled at me in return and reached up, taking it from me before I moved onto the next one. It was a battle to remember. The fourteen of us blasting our way through the dozens of demons within the walls but it wasn’t over, not yet away.

I approached Myst and Carol, who sat on the open tailgate of the truck and took a deep breath as I watched them type away at the keyboard.

“How’s it look?” I questioned, stuffing my hands in my pockets and Carol looked up, scoffing.

“Like it’s going to be a wild night for a party.” She replied.

“Hey,” Myst grinned, “should we have brought hot dogs?”

“Smores,” I replied and watched her nod. “Do you think we’re far enough away?”

“It’s not going to bring down the capital, if that’s what your asking.” Carol smiled. “But, yeah, we’re far enough away.”

We had moved the vehicles to a small hill still in sight of the building right after all had made it out. While we were distracting the monsters and apparently kicking ass while fighting demons, Carol and Myst had managed to sneak in and plant explosives all around what they deemed the necessary spots to bring that place down, imploding into itself.

“We’ll see soon,” Myst hopped off the tailgate and moved towards the edge of the grass. “Wanna see who’s up for a lightshow?”

“Oh, absolutely.” I quickly turned and headed over to the group of women, who were laying or sitting about in the plush grass, enjoying the fact that despite the numerous injuries they had acquired, Cas was healing them as I watched, except for Kat, who insisted that he leave something that might be considered a scar. “Anyone for fireworks?”

I heard the hoot and hollers of every woman there as they raced for the pickup, finding a spot on the roof or in the back of the bed to try and get the best seat in the house. I stood beside the truck, Cas behind me and Danni to my left as I glanced over at the two girls with the laptops.

“You ready?” I grinned and and both Carol and Myst nodded.

“Whenever you are,” Carol grinned.

“Well, fire it up.” I replied and listened to the two of them put in a code before simultaneously pushing the enter button. 

The first explosion was quiet, but the subsequent ones that followed only got yells of encouragement from the women behind me as I felt Cas’ arm wrap around my waist. Suddenly the whole ground shook as the brick and beam building collapsed onto itself and I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my lips. 

Cheers rang out as we watched but soon the group became quiet as we watched the fire engulf the building and when I looked back what I saw only made my heart grow. They were watching in silence, memories in their eyes as their arms were wrapped around one another, at the waist, over the shoulders, from behind and they leaned against one another for support, for security and I nodded. 

My band of wayward sisters, spread across the country, even into Canada, were now family, bonded together by this one adventures, by many adventures to come, and I took a breath, grabbed my phone out of my pocket and snapped a picture of all of them, Cas and Danni included.

That was when we heard the first siren and every eye shifted to the road, clear though the bare fall trees.

“Alright, ladies, that’s our cue!” I smiled, “let’s get the hell out of here.”

And within minutes, all of us were on the move.

**Sunday - sometime in the evening - the bunker.**

I slammed on the brakes, ripped the car into park and quickly got out, laughing as Danni moved in beside me shaking her head. Kat, Loki and Shifu seemed to crawl out of the Charger just as Danni’s occupants looked a little green.

“What the hell are you laughing at?” Danni growled as she rounded the car and stood face to face with me.

“Dude, I almost had you!” I chuckled.

“You almost had me?” She laughed back, “at what point?”

“If you really wanted to attract attention,” Birdy scolded as she got out of the pickup, “that little stunt on the highway would have done it.”

“There wasn’t a cop car for miles,” I defended, “I made sure, I even had Cas…”

“Wait, you got Cas involved?” Bee questioned and I quickly looked at her in mock shock.

“I would never!!!” But there was this grin and I just couldn’t hold it it. “Never drive faster than your angel can fly, right Cas?” 

“My part in this argument is invalid, and the fact that I may or may not have disabled that one trooper’s starter is all in how you view the situation.” Cas replied as he stepped up from behind me. “Though I must admit, she had the lead on you for most of the race, Danni.”

“Horseshit!” Danni barked and headed down the steps to the bunker.  I smiled as Birdy just shook her head and the rest of us followed.

Things progressed at a fast pace once we stepped into the protection of the boys’ home. Things were packed up quickly, not that it was the intention, but it was just the way the world seemed to flow and pair by pair, the girls started to disappear.

Cas brought them back to where they were taken, either homes or car that were left where they were needed and as the place emptied out, I started to feel the absence in my chest. Down to the last few, Birdy and Arrow, I found myself staring up at the empty library, where everything was once again in its place.

“It won’t be forever, you know.” Arrow said as she hugged me, kissing me quickly on the cheek before she let go.

“It’s never forever,” I smirked, “and it’s never goodbye.”

“It’s only ever  _ see you later _ ,” Birdy whispered as she wrapped her arms around me, and Arrow went to Danni.

“Or  _ g’night. _ ” Danni added. “Besides, we have our own club now.”

“Club?” Arrow laughed.

“Yeah, the Dark Hunters.” I smiled and watched as the two of them nodded.

“I like it, it’s catchy.” Birdy laughed. 

“It’s got a certain flair,” Arrow grinned.

“Oh, we should totally make bumper stickers.” Danni shook her head.

“Yeah, like that would go over so well.” I replied but the smile faded from my lips. “Take care of yourselves, girls. Watch over each other.”

“Always,” Birdy smiled, “tell Dean and Sam that I said hello.”

“Me too, if you can ever find Sammy.” Arrow chuckled.

“I will.” I nodded and watched as Cas walked up between them. “Be safe with our girls, Cas.”

“Be back soon.” He whispered and suddenly they were gone.  

I leaned back on the table, crossed my arms and my ankles as Danni approached and did the same. After a thoughtful minute, I picked my head up and looked at her.

“You realize the truck and the Duster are still parked outside right?” I questioned and waited as all Danni did was grin.

 

**Author’s note:**

Well now, this was an adventure, I didn’t have all the information when I sat down to write it but I did know where it was going and what I wanted to accomplish. I hope you enjoyed this adventure, the lore was a little interesting to gather and the fight scene was a bit hectic to do but when you’re moving from one person’s POV, it’s hard to get it all in. 

I honestly didn’t think it was going to be this long. 

Happy Holidays Hunters. I hope that you know that you are all in my heart, though I couldn’t fit everyone in the story, know that even if you’re not there in name, I think about you all everyday and can’t wait to meet you at some point in life.

Be good, and if you can’t be good, be good at it.

Dawn

  
  
  
  



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